Atletico Madrid Left in a Midfield Muddle After Opening-Night Disappointment
At Atletico Madrid, they pride themselves on doing things differently to their two main Liga rivals, but they aren’t supposed to be quite this different.
On an opening weekend that saw Luis Suarez score a hat-trick, and Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale both hit two goals each—leading Barcelona and Real Madrid to convincing victories by four and three goals, respectively—here were Atletico again trying to do things their way and ultimately paying the price.
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Diego Simeone had the excuse of being without the suspended Antoine Griezmann—who perhaps wouldn’t have started as he continues to recover from his summer exertions—but his side’s approach at home to newly promoted Alaves never quite seemed right from the start.
They almost got away with it, though.
Kevin Gameiro’s frustrating debut looked as though it was going to get a golden ending when he fired home a questionable penalty in the third minute of stoppage time, only for a fine strike from visiting captain Manu Garcia to level the scores with effectively the last kick of the game.
It was a goal that left Simeone seething on the sidelines, with a rueful shake of the head and several words muttered under his breath. Words that are too graphic to be printed, no doubt.
However, the manager has to look at himself after such a disappointment and not toward his players.
In playing the way that Atletico did—starting with Gameiro up front with Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, almost strangling any hint of width available to the side—was wrong and played into the hands of a team whose game plan was always going to be to sit tight and allow their hosts as little space as possible to exploit.
In this instance, the midfield became a huge problem for the hosts, with four players whose natural instinct is to move centrally—Koke, Gabi, Tiago and Saul Niguez—almost getting in the way of each other.
In his player ratings for ESPN, Atletico writer Joseph Walker laid the responsibility for this at the feet of Simeone, scoring him a three out of 10 and writing:
"[Simeone] set up far too defensively in a 4-4-2 containing four central midfielders from the off. [He] needs to learn Griezmann will not always be there to get the side out of jail. [He] tried to change the tide with his substitutions, but the fact his first port of call was Fernando Torres is slightly worrying.
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Torres was summoned from the bench to replace the veteran Tiago at half-time, leading many to wonder just why the Portuguese had been picked to start the game in the first place.
No one can doubt his importance to the club over the years, but at 35 years old and no more mobile than he was when he broke his leg in the middle of last season, should he be starting a match at home to a newly promoted side?
After all, this was the type of fixture that you will doubtless see Barcelona and Real Madrid racking up four, five, six or more goals in over the course of the campaign. And although Atletico are obviously not in a place to compete with their firepower, they need to at least give themselves the chance to stay on their coattails in terms of winning points.
This was a midfield more suited to a Champions League away leg at Bayern Munich, Juventus or one of their big two Liga rivals and not Alaves at home.
Indeed, after Tiago was replaced by Torres at half-time, it was no surprise to see that skipper Gabi was the next to go, removed just before the hour mark for new signing Nicolas Gaitan, who struggled against the massed ranks of the Alaves defence.
It could have been different had he been chosen to start the game, though, with surely one more attacking player needed in the lineup in place of one of the two defensive midfielders who were barely troubled.
As shown in the graphic from WhoScored.com above, Atletico registered 27 shots to Alaves’ two, with the only one of those on target flashing from the boot of Garcia and past Jan Oblak in the 95th minute.
The point was a just reward for a side that battled superbly and were extremely unlucky with the late penalty decision when the excellent Victor Laguardia was judged to have pulled back Torres in the area, even though the infringement started outside.
When Gameiro scored—thereby exorcising the demons of earlier missed chances—that looked to be the story of the night, only for even later drama to unfold.
Yet if this result is to serve as a warning for what Simeone and Atletico need to avoid in the future, then perhaps positives can be taken from it.
We discussed the need for Atletico to go on the attack more in the buildup to the game, but that was largely more in hope than expectation. The selection of Tiago alongside Gabi pretty much blew those hopes out of the water.
Admittedly, Simeone’s hand was forced with the absence of Griezmann, but this looked to be an attempt at covering for his absence rather than using it as an opportunity for other attacking players to shine. Both Gaitan and later Angel Correa—who looked lively—were given opportunities from the bench, but it was almost a case of too little, too late.
Gameiro could have changed the narrative had he taken some of his earlier chances. And if Atleti had taken an early lead, there is every reason to believe that the XI Simeone selected would be able to see out the game and secure the three points, but where was the adventure?
Where was the willingness to put the game out of sight of opponents who are more than likely going to spend their season battling against relegation?
Onlookers might say that such a way of thinking is distinctly un-Atletico and un-Simeone, but there is a real hope that the team’s outlook will change in the coming season because it probably has to if they are to keep pace with La Liga’s top two—who are already first and second thanks to their weekend efforts.
What happens from here? Knowing Simeone, he’ll probably be more annoyed at the manner that the late equalising goal was conceded instead of worrying about his side’s lack of cut and thrust going forward.
There's no reason to panic, of course, but such is the structure of La Liga and the teams within it that it is hard not to feel Atletico have needlessly given a two-point head start to the two clubs in world football who never need to be given an advantage.
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